Automobile heater



Feb. 24, 1942. E. c. BOOTH AUTOMOBILE HEATER Filed March 12, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 77191 C. ficorfi',

ATTORNEYS Feb. 24, 1942. E. c. BOOTH AUTOMOBILE HEATER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 12 1937 I .45 v l l ll llllliiiiilllllllfllllllllfl INVENTOR flaezfloor/ BY ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 24, 1942 UNITED] STATE AUTOMOBILE HEATER Earl C. Booth, Columbus, lndgassignor to Noblitt- Spark Industries, Inc.

poration of Indiana Columbus, Ind., a cormamm l. 12,1937, Serial No. 130,441 s Claims. (01. 257-137) My inventionrelates to automobile-body heaters of the circulating fluid type and partially to heaters which, in addition to discharging a relatively large volume of air into the passenger compartment of the automobile body, also dis charge one or more relativelysmall air streams,

toward localized areas, such as against the windshield to remove any moisture condensed thereon or toward the feet of the driver. It is the primary object of my invention to produce a heater of this'kind in which the main volume of air is delivered at relativelylow pressure while the air discharged to localized'areas is delivered under a higher pressure. More specifically, it is my object to produce a simple and effective means and arrangement of parts whereby the large-volume, low-pressure fiow and the lowvolume, high-pressure flow may be created.

. Incarrying out my invention I employ a heater having a casing, a core, a rotary air impeller, and a driving means, such as an electric motor for the air impeller. The casing is provided on its front face with a relatively large air-discharge opening, through which is delivered the air used in warming. the interior of the automobile body, and also with one or more auxiliary opening-s, for the delivery of heated air to specific locations such asxto'ward the feet of the driver or to a windshield defrosten In the latter case, a conduit maybe associated with one of the auxiliary discharge openings, which conduit extends and is connectedto a nozzle disposed adjacent the windshield. The air impeller is desirably formed as a single sheet-metal stamping containing two concentric seriesof blades one of which resembles a series offan blades and is adapted to deliver air axially through the core to the main discharge opening of the casing while the other resembles, a series ofturbineor blower blades so associated with the wallsof the casing and auxiliary baflles' asto deliver air under an appreciable pressure to the auxiliary openings in the casing.

The accompanying .drawingsillustrate my invention: Fig. l'is a horizontalsection on the line l|- of Fig. 2 through one form of heater in which my invention has been incorporated; Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3' is a vertical section on the line 3-,: of Fig. .4 showing a mddification of my'invention; Fig. 4 is-a horizontal section on the line ll-4 of Fig. 3; and .Fig. 5 is a ver'ticallsection through a heaterembodying still another modification of the invention. M

.The heater illustrated .in Fig. 1 embodies a casingl lll and a core II. The core embodies a plurality of water passages, through which the cooling. fluid in the engine is circulated,and a plurality of air passages, through which is passed the air to be heated. A In its broader aspects my invention is not concerned with any particular form of core.

The-front wall of the casing I0 is provided with a large air-discharge opening l2 surrounding which there is an annular baflle' I3 extending between the front casing-wall and the front face of the core II. If. desired,,the discharge opening l2 may haveIassociated with it one or of which the main air-discharge can be regulated both in quantity and in direction.

Mounted in rear of the core I provide a suitable source of power, conveniently an electric motor 20, for driving the air impeller 2 I. As is clear from Figs. 1 and 2 the air impeller is preferably formed as a single sheet-metal stamping which conveniently has a depressed central portion, within which the front end of the motor is received, and a forwardly projecting rim \or flange 22. In the intermediate portion of the impeller, between the central depression and the flange 22, there are formed a plurality" of fan blades "23 which, as the impeller 2| is rotated, force a stream of air through the core and forwardly through the battle I 3 and main air-discharge opening I 2.

The annular rim or flange 22 of the impeller 2| is provided with aseries of blower blades 25 conveniently inclined forwardly and inwardly in the direction of impellerrotation and having'the which they engage as the impeller rotates. To separate thestream of air moved forwardly by the fan blades 23 from 'the air engaged by the blower blades 25, there is provided in rear of the core an annular baflle 26 the outer edge of which extends between the fan blades 23. and the blower blades 25.

Near the rearface of the 'core the casing H! is provided with a transverse b'afile 28 which extends between the core and the casing walls and which, in co-operation with the baflle' l3 .and the side walls of the casing, define air chambers 29 into which the sides of the core extend. Openings for the admission of air in this chamber are provided in the wallsof the casing, conveniently as rearwardly and outwardlysloping louvers 30.

In the side walls of the casing and in rear of the partition 28 there are providedone or more chambers 51.

2 auxiliary air-discharge openings, two of which are shown in Fig. 2. One of these, indicated at 32, is located near a lower corner of the casing l and has associated with it a laterally directed nozzle 33 desirably provided with an adjustable damper 34 the position of which is controlled by a suitable handle 35. Another auxiliary air-discharge opening, indicated at 31, has associated with it a nipple 38 adapted to be received in one end of a conduit leading to a windshield-defroster nozzle (not shown).

In'the arrangement illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 rotation of the impeller 2| in the direction of the arrow causes air to be drawn into the casing by the fan blades 23 and to be forced forwardly through the baflle 26, the core H, and the baflie l3, and outwardly through the main air-discharge 20. At the same time, the blower blades 25 induce a flow of air into the chamber 29 through the louvers 30, such air being passed through the sides of the core and discharged through the auxiliary air openings 32 and 31.

In a heater of the type described, unless the motor is located a considerable distance in rear of the core, air flow through the extreme center portion of the core is obstructed by the motor and the efliciency of the heater will be correspondingly decreased. To overcome this disadvantage, the central depression in the impeller 2| may be provided with an annular series of blades 40 inclined radially so as to induce air to flow into the depression around the sides of the motor and to force such air outwardly and forwardly. A stationary baffle 4| surrounding the blades 40 collects the air thrown outwardly by those impeller-blades and directs it forwardly through the core.

The modification of my invention illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 embodies a casing 45, a core 46, an air impeller 41, and a motor 48 for driving the impeller. The impeller 41 resembles the impeller 2| shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in that it has an annular series of helically inclined fan blades 49 and a forwardly extending rim provided with an annular series of blower blades 50. The heater of Figs; 3 and 4, however, differs from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 in that the motor and air impeller are located in front of the core and also in that the core is of a different and novel construction.

The front of the casing 45 is open to permit the discharge ,of the main quantity of air delivered by the heater. As shown, the front of the casing is provided with a rotatably adjustable frame 52 having a central opening in which are mounted a plurality of shutters 53 for the regulation of the quantity and direction of the air discharged forwardly from the heater. This particular arrangement, however, forms no part of my invention.

Inside the heater casing, and projecting forwardly from the core 46, I provide a fan-shroud 55 which, at its front end conforms approximately to the circumference of the fan blades 49 and, at its rear end, to the shape of the core. At the sides of the core, the shroud 55 continues real-wardly to form partitions 56 which co-operate with the side walls of the casing to form At the rear of the casing, the side walls thereof are bent inwardly, as indicated at 53, toclose the rear ends of the chambers Auxiliary air-discharge openings 59, desirably communicating with nozzles or nipples 60, are provided in the walls of the casing 45 in communication with the chambers 51, respectively.

In the heater illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 and just described, rotation of the impeller causes of the blower blades 50 will cause a part of the air heated by passage through the core to be forced outwardly into the chambers 51 and through the chambers rearwardly of the heater to the auxiliary air-discharge openings 59. If the shutters 53 are closed or partly closed, the

proportionate quantity of air supplied to theauxiliary discharge openings-will be increased.

As indicated above, the core 46 shown in Figs;

3 and 4 is of novel construction. It comprises an upper tank 62, a lower tank 63, and a plurality of liquid-conveying tubes 64 extending between the tanks. The tanks are provided respectively with water-supply and water-discharge pipes 65 and 65.

Each of the tubes 64 interconnecting the tanks 52 and 63 is formed of sheet-metal, desirably of a single piece of sheet-metal doubled back on itself to form the two side walls of the tube, and the edges of the sheet-metal are secured together as by soldering or by seaming and soldering to prevent leakage. Each side wall of the tube thus formed is provided with a multiplicity of outwardly projecting embossments 68. Each of such embossments is desirably elongated, and the several embossments are arranged in rows extending longitudinally of the tubes with the embossments in adjacent rows oppositely oblique. These embossments serve to increase the area of tube-wall exposed to the air flowing between the tubes, and their oppositely inclined positions serve to create a certain amount of turbulence in the air, thus aiding heat-transfer.

To decrease the overall depth of the heater, the front face is desirably recessed to receive the rear portion of the motor 48, as is clear from Figs. 3' and 4. To provide this recess, the tubes near the center of the core are narrowed intermediately, as indicated in Fig. 3; and to avoid undue restriction of the liquid-flow through the tubes thus narrowed, the narrowed portions of the tubes are made of greater thickness, as indicated at 10. This thickening of the tubes in the central portion of the core decreases the aggregate cross-sectional area of the air passengers; but this results in no serious decrease in efliciency, as it is confined approximately to the projected area of the motor 48, and in that area the motor itself serves to retard air flow.

In the modification of my invention illustrated in Fig. 5, the heater proper may be of any desired form of construction. The casing 15 encloses. the core 13 and'is open at the front and back for the flow of air. As shown, the casing is provided with the same rotatable front 52 and shutters 53 with which the heater illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 is equipped. The motor I! is mounted in rear of the core 16 and arranged to drive an air impeller 18.

The air impeller, in the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 5, is mounted on the rear end of the armature shaft of the motor 11 and is deeply recessed at its center, as indicated at 19, to bring the fan blades at its periphery adjacent the rear face of the core. The side walls of the recess 19 are spaced from the motor 11 and are provided with an annular series of inwardly directed blower blades 8|. A blower casing 82 surrounds the recessed portion 19 of the impeller, extending forwardly to a point near theinner ends of the fan blades 80. The blower casing 82 i provided with an air discharge nipple or nozzle 83, and an annular baiiie orshroud 84 i mounted in rear of the core 46 and extends into the recessed portion, 19 of the air impeller in spaced relation to the In the heater shown in Fig. 5, rotation of the impeller will cause the fan blades 80 to force air forwardly through the core and outwardly past the shutters 53. At the same time, the impeller blades 8| will draw air from the core rearwardly through the bailie 84, discharging such air into the blower casing 82 and outwardly through the nozzle 83.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an automobile-body heater of the circuoutwardly through said auxiliary openings, and

means for rotating said impeller.

2. In an automobile-body heater of the circulating fluid type, a core, a casing for said core, said casing having main and auxiliary air discharge openings, a rotatable air impeller having a generally axially extending annular flange near its periphery, said impeller being provided within said flange with a set of helically disposed fan bladesfor forcing air outwardly through said main air discharge opening, said flange having an annular series of blower blades for forcing air outwardly through said auxiliary openings, and means for rotating said impeller.

3. The invention set forth in claim 2 with the addition that said casing is provided interiorly with baflles defining an air passage extending to saidmain dischargeopening and a second air passage extending to at least one of said auxiliary discharge openings, said fan blad s being located in said first named passage and said blower blades being located in said second passage, said core having portions located in both passages.

4. In an automobile-body heater of the circulating fluid type, a core, a casing. for said core, said casing being provided in its front face with a main discharge opening, an annular bafile surrounding said opening and extending rearwardly to said core, a second annular baiile projecting rearwardly from the rear face of said core, portions of said core extending laterally outwardly casing a second annular series of blades adapted to move air radially outwardly, and means for rotating said impeller, the side walls of said casing being provided near the front thereof with near the rear thereof with one or more auxiliary air-discharge openings,

5. In an automobile-body heater of the circulating fluid type, a core, an electric motor mounted in alinement with said core, a casing, a rotatable air impeller coaxial with said motor and driven thereby, said impeller having an annular series of air-impelling blades and, within said blades, a central depression into which said motor extends, the annular wall of said depression being provided with a second series of air impelling blades, and a shroud surrounding said second s ries of blades.

6. The invention set forth in claim ,5, with the addition that said impeller is disposed between said motor and core, said shroud extending between said impeller and core to form a conduit for air acted upon by said second series of blades.

7. In an automobile-body heater of the circulating fluid type, a core, a casing for said core,

' said casing having a main air-discharge opening in its front face, an air impeller disposed within said casing in front of said core, said impeller having a forwardly projecting peripheral flange and, within said flange, an annular series of helically inclined fan blades, said flange being provided with an annular series of blower blades for moving air radially outwardly, and means for rotating said impeller, said casing having one or more auxiliary discharge openings and provisions for guiding to said auxiliary discharge openings air discharged from said blower blades.

8. In a heater, a core comprising spaced tanks and a plurality of tubes extending between them, aid tubes being spaced apart to define air passages, the tubes near the center of said core being narrower near their middles than at their ends to provide a'recess in one face of said core,

an electric motor disposedin said recess, and an air impeller driven by said motor and, located adjacent one face of said core for causing air to flow therethrough.

rounding the periphery of the other, means for operating said impellers to force air through selected air passages in opposite directions simul- I one or more auxiliary air-inlet openings and taneously, and means for preventing interference between the oppositely moving air streams creafied by said impellers.

11. In a combined heater and defroster, a heating radiator having air passages, a fan impelling air through certain of said passages, a blower for impelling air through other of said passages and constituted by a ring which is attached to the fan blades near their peripheries, said ring having therein openings and each opening having a blade extending radially-inwardly from one mar gin thereof.

12. In a heater of the class described, a casing provided with a main air outlet, a core in said casing, a propeller type of fan for circulating air through the core and said main air outlet, said casing also having oppositely disposed auxiliary air outlets, each communicating with a gradually enlarging arcuate air passage, an annular member secured to the core and forming the bottoms of said arcuate passages, and an impeller type of fan operatively connected with said propeller and'adapted to circulate a portion of the air passing through the. core through said arcuate passages and the auxiliary outlets.

13. A unit heater having an outer casing having a main delivery opening, a radiator in the delivery outlets through which the impeller forces casing, a fan of the propeller type for forcing air air by centrifugal action, and said chamber bethrough said radiator and then through said ing in part defined by an annular shroud which main opening, and an impeller type of fan inco-operates with the face of the radiator to in cluding a fan chamber adapted to receive air 5 part define central and peripheral air flow paths. from the radiator and having oppositely disposed EARL C. BOOTH. 

